By Kristen Hays
HOUSTON, Oct 29 (Reuters) - The first company to get U.S. government approval to ship minimally processed super-light oil to international markets is building its own export terminal on the Texas Gulf Coast aimed at topping off massive tankers to keep them full.
Matthew Goitia, chief executive of privately held Peaker Energy, received the first U.S. government approval to export ultra-light oil known as condensate in September 2013, months before other companies followed suit to exploit the first cracks in the decades-old domestic crude export ban.
But Goitia's efforts to put that approval into action faltered, as potential customers listened and then bypassed Peaker to connect their marketing teams directly with shippers.
"We weren't big enough to really move the needle on them. They were opening up a brand new marketplace," he told Reuters.
So Goitia designed and recently broke ground on a export terminal at the Port of Point Comfort - a modest port between Houston and Corpus Christi that mainly handles chemicals, petrochemicals, aluminum ore and fertilizer.
Goitia said the Peaker project is backed by a private partnership he declined to identify. Peaker has preliminary agreements in place for volumes that would begin shipping out late next year when the terminal opens. Those negotiations are ongoing and he declined to name clients.
Peaker aims to put condensate on mid-range tankers and transfer those volumes to top off bigger vessels that are not full and near the shore to improve efficiency.
The idea is to pursue a niche strategy to put that empty space to use as other bigger players, such as Enterprise Products Partners and BHP Billiton (L:BLT) Ltd BHP.AX have long-term export contracts for larger cargoes.
Peaker is mostly eyeing space on massive tankers, like Suezmax or Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs) that can carry 1 million or more barrels.
"We max out the storage capabilities of these vessels by having more flexibility," he said. "It's not one size fits all."
U.S. condensate exports this year have mostly gone to Europe. But Goitia noted Iran is selling cheap condensate to gain market share, and could push U.S. condensate barrels out of European markets as output ramps up.
Condensate exports are less attractive now than they were a year ago as the super-light oil's discount to other crudes narrowed sharply alongside the global oil rout. Undaunted, Goitia is after that niche of using empty space to improve shipping efficiency while connecting customers with barrels.